As described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,522,857, 5,540,968, 5,545,276, 5,948,500, and 6,203,881 (all hereby incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein) carpet and carpet tiles incorporating primary pile fabrics in layered constructions are well known to those of skill in the art. An example of a tufted carpet product 10A including a foam cushion underlayer as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,948,500 is shown herein in FIG. 1. In the carpet 10A of FIG. 1, a pile fabric referred to as a primary carpet fabric 12 is embedded in an adhesive layer 16 in which is embedded a layer of open glass scrim 18. A foam base composite 19 is likewise adhesively bonded to the adhesive layer 16.
In such a carpet construction the primary carpet fabric 12 includes pile forming yarns 20 tufted through a primary backing layer 22 such as a woven or nonwoven textile by a conventional tufting process and held in place by a pre-coat backing layer 24 of latex or other appropriate adhesive. The primary backing layer 22 has traditionally been a single layer of material. A separate layer of stabilizing material 18 such as glass scrim or the like is adhesively bonded within the carpet composite 10A at a position below the primary backing layer 22 to impart dimensional stability. In the illustrated embodiment, an adhesive 16 extends away from both sides of the stabilizing material 18. Open interstices across the stabilizing material 18 promote so called “strike through” of the adhesive 16 through the stabilizing material. The formation of a foam base composite 19 for use in prior cushioned carpeting constructions has typically involved pre-forming and curing urethane foam 28 across a backing material also known as a carrier layer 26 by practices such as are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,171,395, 4,132,817, and 4,512,831 to Tillotson (all hereby incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein). As described in those references, such a foam base composite may be laminated to a carpet base thereby yielding a multi-layer cushioned composite structure.